Geography & Travel

Kruger National Park

national park, South Africa
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

Print
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

Kruger National Park, the largest national park in South Africa. It is located in Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces, west of the Lebombo Mountains on the Mozambique border. Established in part in 1898, the park in 1926 was named for Paul Kruger, former president of the South African Republic (the Transvaal) and builder of the Afrikaner nation. The headquarters of the park are at Skukuza. The park, with an area of 7,523 square miles (19,485 square km), is about 200 miles (320 km) long and 25 to 50 miles (40 to 80 km) wide. The area has a generally flat terrain with low ranges of hills traversed by nearly 5,000 miles of paved and gravel roads. Vegetation varies from open veld to dense bush that includes mopane, acacia, marula, and baobab trees. Wildlife includes elephants, lions, leopards, cheetahs, buffalo, rhinoceroses, zebras, wildebeests, impalas, and numerous birds. Although six perennial rivers cross the park, droughts often make artificial watering necessary.

In 2002 Kruger National Park joined with Mozambique’s Limpopo Park and Zimbabwe’s Gonarezhou National Park to form the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, the largest game park in Africa.

Gutzon Borglum. Presidents. Sculpture. National park. George Washington. Thomas Jefferson. Theodore Roosevelt. Abraham Lincoln. Mount Rushmore National Memorial, South Dakota.
Britannica Quiz
National Parks and Landmarks Quiz
This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.